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Anybody diagnosed with Candida?


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Has anyone on BB's been diagnosed with candida?  If so, what were your symptoms, what

part(s) of the body were infected and how was it diagnosed?  What meds were prescribed for it?

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My blood test showed that I had candida. I'm not sure about the symptoms as mine were very bad anyway and I had many (not sure how much influence the candida on the top of withdrawal, but can say that all my simptoms improved once I went on Candida diet, nausea in particular). I'm using a good brand probiotic and sometimes digestive enzymes (once a week). The nutritionist wanted to put me on more supplements, but I refused.
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Jasmine,

Sorry that you have candida.  I'm going to have my symptoms checked out.  I went on several websites only to learn that candida had almost the same identical symptoms as post/protracted benzo withdrawal.  What type of diet are you on.  What can/cannot you eat on this diet and is it permanent?

Woe

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I don't think it's permanent. My diet is very limited. I can eat green vegetables, fish, meat, buckwheat, brown rice and nuts. It's even more limited then Candida diet as some things make my anxiety/akathisia much worse. I couldn't tolerate even nuts for months and now they do not bother me so I think it should get back to normal with time. You can google candida diet and it will give you a full list of what you can eat.
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I am interested in the answers to your questions too Woe...I am looking into it as well.  I have found the foods to eat and not eat and will commence doing that but just wonder how is this diagnosed?  I don't believe that regular MD's even believe in this...so I am supposing one must go to a naturopath? 

  Please chime in anyone who has any information...

Thanks

Hoping

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I did a blod test (I found a doctor who does it). I know you can have a stool analysis (quite expensive in Europe) or you can do a spit test - that one is for free  :), but I'm not sure how reliable it is
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I had a flu shot a couple of months ago and got what I called..... the flu.  Doctors said impossible, but the symptoms were very real and flu like for 4 weeks.  I developed a sore throat, had cultures. Was not Strept.  My mouth and throat were covered with painful white patches.  I was prescribed Nystatin, a rinse to swish and swallow.  That made me even sicker, so I went from swallowing it to only swishing it.  I was supposed to do it for two weeks, but quit after 4 days since it made me sicker.  Eventually the white patches and sore throat went away. I started taking probiotics around that time as well and ate a lot of yogurt.  Guess I'll know know what that was all about .

 

IT was only in my throat, however.

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Hey woe! Sorry I missed this, it's very near and dear to my heart.

 

I was diagnosed with Candida at the place I went to get off the benzos about 3 months ago. Pretty progressive facility. Anyway, they did a blood test and a symptomology questionaire. The anti-bodies came back negative, but the symptomology was off the charts so they concluded I had Candida and my immune system had been fighting it for such a long time that I was no longer able to produce anti-bodies to it.

 

I got prescribed Fluconazole. I did one, 14 day course while I was at the facility, and got an rx for another course about a month ago. I have to say, it was an awful experience with the Fluconazole. I couldn't eat, I was incredibly fatigued, awful nausea, vomitting, diarhea, ughhhhhh. Now, it's tough to know what was what, because I did a CT from Klonopin but once I stopped the Fluconazole, especially the second course, my symptoms became much less severe.

 

The key with Candida is starving it of anything it likes to eat, which is mainly sugar, and most carbohydrates for that matter. Right now, I'm on a Ketogenic diet (~25g carb/day), I take garlic, capryllic acid, oregano oil, and a probiotic every day. For me, this is what seems to be working, and my die-off is not nearly as severe as it was when I was taking Fluconazole. Are you familiar with the GAPS diet? You should check out www.gaps.me for a really thorough treatise on how it treats Candida and a  whole host of other gut related issues. 

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i believe benzo's and candida are inter-related. everytime i would try to taper i noticed i would get a yeast infection.

i think that being on the benzo's keep the candida and yeast over growth in this cage like atmosphere. any prescription drug or street drug or even non script drug or medication will do that to the body. they all have a ton of metals in them as well.

and heavy metals also go hand and hand with candida and benzo's/

 

i've been dealing with candida issues for a long time. too long. but i never really did the whole starving of the yeast thing properly/ i looked into Bodyecologydiet.com by Donna Gates which is a wonderful diet that has a lot of cultured foods in it.

 

i am now doing a lot of research on the GAPS diet which was mentioned on this thread. i really think that will be the way to go for me since it's been so many years.

it's time to really clean and seal up the gut. then one can start to re-introduce foods back into their diet. but the GAPS diet seems to have tonifying foods. that along with good probiotics and cultured foods are more beautifying foods. kefir means 'feel good' in Greek.

and i've been on a few websites where they have some pretty good pribiotics. Dr. McBride, Creator of the GAPS diet invented something called Bio-Kult which you can find on GAPSdiet.com or amazon.

also, on Organic 3 website, i've been talking with a woman who sells and even better probiotic so she says called GutPro and she has a good digestive enzyme called GutZyme.

if you google QNHSHOP they are supposed to have one of the best probiotics ever!

 

even when i do the GAPS diet i will always try my best to incorporate as many cultured foods as possible be it cultured veggies that i make using Donna Gates culture starter and kefir starter. non dairy coconut water from the young coconuts. there are many youtube video's about how to make your own kefir and cultured veggies. it's definitely time consuming but worth learning how to do.

 

Jordan Rubin at Garden of Life has a great book called "The Raw Truth" which has a ton of resources to get all different kinds of culture starters. he talk about his friend Renee Ainlay, whose company makes his favorite raw fat on the planet--

and a raw cococut cream--also produces a powerful raw coconut kefir probiotic beverage.

 

this maybe too much info. but maybe if you're really interested in the cultured foods you can google renee ainlay. that's what i was going to do. i really would love to try that cultured coconut cream, sounds really good and is a good fat too.

 

i know i am going to feel so much better once i start the GAPS diet and have some more cultured foods in my belly.

it must be so freeing to have the gut free of all that crap and sealed up again.

pretty

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Another yes.  A test - which I now realise I did a few days into starting tapering and after a few weeks of really cutting my doses before that - showed that I had bacterial overgrowth in the gut, both candida and a form of acidophilous.  As this is a really common problem in people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis I had assumed it was related to that until I found a thread on here about gut health and began to wonder. 

 

I was prescribed oral Nystatin and prebiotics but didn't get past the Liver support stage I had to do before starting the treatment before I ended up in dire straights with the withdrawal.  So far my doctor has said to hold off on treating the Candida for now.  However he did initially put me on a low GI and no refined sugars diet which I started straight away. 

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i believe benzo's and candida are inter-related. everytime i would try to taper i noticed i would get a yeast infection.

i think that being on the benzo's keep the candida and yeast over growth in this cage like atmosphere. any prescription drug or street drug or even non script drug or medication will do that to the body. they all have a ton of metals in them as well.

and heavy metals also go hand and hand with candida and benzo's/

 

 

This is very interesting to me pretty, the idea of the benzos keeping overgrowth in check.  I did the same test I just mentioned in my last post around 4 years ago and the acidophilous was really high then but candida was fine - even though all the people treating me were sure it was going to come back saying I had it.  And I've been taking Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) since the start of the year and not seen any benefit.  Which apparently can happen if you have Candida. 

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pretty,

 

I was just wondering if you have anything you've read that supports the theory about benzos and the 'cage'?  Would love to read and show my Dr tomorrow if you do.

 

Also, anyone have any opinion on whether it's worth doing the Nystatin/probiotics etc before you're fully off the benzos? 

 

T

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Hi T,

 

i don't think you will find that theory anywhere except my own head. that's how i think. but it's true if you think about it.

all prescriptions have some sort of heavy metal in it, all aspirin, benedryl, over the counter, and that supports my own theory of keeping the over growth of yeast in this kinda like cage.

 

i did hear about candida being and looking like different cages in our bodies. so when you taper from the benzo's or any drug and you notice all of a sudden you're getting all the yeast infections, it's seems like letting go of one thing in the body helps the other thing to break open and let go as well.

it's just the way i think which was confirmed by a Naturapath doc that i talk to a lot.

 

metals make things bind to them and stay in. so in a sense you are also detoxifying from heavy metals when you taper or are off benzo's, or opiates or have let go of some kind of toxin.

i don't know what LDN is? i've heard of it though.

 

all i can say about Nystatin is that it's really great once you are on it for awhile to kill the yeast over growth. and in doing so, you are also killing the infection that has toxic by products such as amonia. that can be hard when you body is already doing so much work to heal from benzo's it may cause your heart to flutter or beat faster. it can cause die off reaction which then can really make you feel ill. i would definitely do some kind of elimination diet  with a good probiotic and wait to start the Nystatin which is really strong.

and it's good to have the right kind of Nystatin too. i made sure that i went to a compounding pharmacy and got this powdered Nystatin to take orally and i forgot the actual units that i got but can tell you tomorrow.

 

i think only Naturapath kind of doctor will understand my cage theory about candida, medication and metals...i don't think a regular medical doctor would understand that. what kind of doc are you dealing with for the candida issues?

pretty

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I'm sorry to jump in but just curious, how does one get diagnosed with candida overgrowth ?

 

I read something online about a spit test and a questionnaire, but both sound really weird... I mean, I think ALL the spit usually sinks down and by the info in one questionnaire I took, it seems that 99% of the population are having the same problem too.

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you know, i don't really know how one is diagnosed with something that yes, 99% of the population has and most people don't ever realize it.

but there are some Integrative Physician's that have a certain stool test thay they use to 'diagnose'.

and i think Dr. William Crook and Dr. Luc de Shepper both started the first those questionaire.

Donna Gates has a really good questionaire in her book The Body Ecology Diet.

 

Thisbe, here is another great store that has some really wonderul, but kinda expensive probiotics. i love the pro daily otic and the pro belly otic.

check it out:

 

http://www.realfoodreallife.tv/

 

pretty

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Just quickly, the diagnosis for me was via a urine test called the Metametrix Comprehensive Profile (it measures a whole lot of other things too, as the name suggests).  Not cheap at all though and had to be sent to the US from here so think you'd want an alternative if you were only wanting bacterial overgrowth tested.  I'm sure it's something that is commonly and easily tested for but I could always be wrong. 

 

LDN is Low Dose Naltrexone - Naltrexone used at a tiny fraction of the amount it is used at for drug addicts has been shown to act as an immune modulator and help a variety of different diseases.  It seems that MS is the one that it has been used most for and it was the success with that which led to it being tried for other things I believe.

 

I have already filled the prescription for the Nystatin (and bought the probiotics) and I just checked and it's capsules.  The Dr I'm seeing is a GP who specialises in treating people with ME and CFS and is a qualified natural and environmental medicine practitioner too so he has a wide knowledge base.  I'll ask him about the powder although at this point I pretty much trust what he's doing. 

 

Time for me to head toward bed.

 

T

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Hi T,

 

i am very interested in knowing what your doctor will suggest for you? so the Nystain you are taking is in the form of a capsule?

that's interesting. what is ME? or did you mean to write MS and CFS?

and that does sound like a really good test that you took. does that test show how your hormones are and vitamin deficiency's?

does it also show your liver phase 1 and phase 11? i wrote down the name of the test. i don't have a doctor like that. i've been looking for a doctor who is Integrative like that but they can be kinda pricy.

i never really had to take a test to show that i had over growth of candida. i had all the sypmtoms on every candida questionaire.

it's the nerve pain and squeezing that bother me. but i sincerely don't know if that is from the benzo's protracted withdrawal symptoms? i won't know for awhile and until i am healed from thie benzo withdrawal.

it's good to cover all basis.

please keep in touch--i'm very interested in hearing what your doctor has to say about you and all that he/she has you doing.

i really hope the Nystatin doesn't exacerbate your benzo symptoms.

pretty

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I've not been tested but have dandruff and  a few other symptoms.  I gave up sugar and high carbs and added boron to my supplements.  Since I can't copy and paste links (Android light data internet)  here are some search  terms for you:  Google - 'candida - iodine, boron, magnesium & selenium' and  'the boron conspiracy Dr. Rex Newman'.                                              Btw  boron is necessary for vit D3, magnesium and calcium metabolism. I use cal mag-glycinate, iodine (Lugol's Solution) and  a multi vitamin. Boron is  not very plentiful in foods (nuts & beans) now, because of high aluminum fertilisers. It prevents and lessens candida, osteoporosis, arthritis and muscle pain.  Hope this helps.    sandi
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Hi T,

 

i am very interested in knowing what your doctor will suggest for you? so the Nystain you are taking is in the form of a capsule?

that's interesting. what is ME? or did you mean to write MS and CFS?

and that does sound like a really good test that you took. does that test show how your hormones are and vitamin deficiency's?

does it also show your liver phase 1 and phase 11? i wrote down the name of the test. i don't have a doctor like that. i've been looking for a doctor who is Integrative like that but they can be kinda pricy.

i never really had to take a test to show that i had over growth of candida. i had all the sypmtoms on every candida questionaire.

it's the nerve pain and squeezing that bother me. but i sincerely don't know if that is from the benzo's protracted withdrawal symptoms? i won't know for awhile and until i am healed from thie benzo withdrawal.

it's good to cover all basis.

please keep in touch--i'm very interested in hearing what your doctor has to say about you and all that he/she has you doing.

i really hope the Nystatin doesn't exacerbate your benzo symptoms.

pretty

 

Okay, I'm back (still recovering from Dr's appt but vaguely here).  Pretty, he has me on the capsules (he said I could take the powder out if I wanted to but there would be no therapeutic advantage in that or taking the compounded powder). 

 

That test shows an awful lot - if you try googling the name I think the company page has details or maybe even an example report.  It shows neurotransmitter activity, bacterial overgrowth, liver function issues, oxidative stress and much more.  I'm not sure it shows all vitamin deficiencies but it did show the B vit and zinc ones.  I have an idea it might measure about 40 or 50 different markers.  Can always pull out one of my reports sometime and give you more information. 

 

I'm very lucky with this doctor in that he's not pricey.  The appointments aren't long (standard 15 minutes theoretically) but we get through a lot in that time and with the medicare rebate it's usually about $35 out of pocket. 

 

No, I did mean ME - Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (literally muscle pain and inflammation of the brain and spinal cord), a neuroimmune disease that seems to have a lot in common with MS.  In quite a lot of the World it is used interchangeably with the term ME and there's a lot of politics and history involved in that.  However the criteria for ME (the recent ICCME - International Consensus Criteria for ME - are the best as far as I'm concerned) rule out much which is labelled 'CFS'. 

 

I'm hoping the Nystatin doesn't stir things up too (obviously!).  I know some die-off is possible but so far I've only noticed some digestive changes. 

 

T

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Hi, Thisbe:

Sorry to break in off-topic, but your PM box is full. I can see you're tired and busy...no, make that exhausted and recuperating. From what I can tell, things went well. Anyway, nothing urgent here; when you have time you might drop me a PM.

 

Aweigh

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[1f...]

to OP:

 

Hey just so you know, I've got systemic candida... and would be treating it but the treatment itself to fully rid yourself of the beast is cruel to say the least... at least when your are compromised to begin with.

 

Long time candida users become habituated to the alcohol being produced, and die off can mimic benzo withdrawal, with the alcohol withdrawal and gaba receptors.

 

I have a post made to me by someone who's helped people permanently rid themselves of candida... and it's a very integrated process.

 

The real crux of the problem is putrifying fecal matter in the colon, along with suitable good bacteria to keep the yeast/fungi in check. So you need to clean out your colon with a colon cleanser (could just use metamucil 1T + 1tsp bentonite clay x3 a day) w/ lots of water, stuff to kill the yeast (garlic, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, other herbs) and fermented foods to re-establish good bacteria..

 

..if you're interested more about this let me know. I've battled this candida beast for 2 years and have finally realized I have to live with it for the time being... getting off all the drugs/staying on a candida diet/and regaining my health are most important right now...

 

... my diet consists purely of fat cuts of turkey, ghee (clarified butter... allergic to dairy) and 3 lbs (90g carbs) of green beans steamed.... so whittled down due to the food allergies/leaky gut candida can cause.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Dan

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